


Cipher Sisters I

by ZoneRobotnik



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Cipher Sisters AU, F/M, Gen, Ursa is an adorable ball of anxiety, everyone is gender-swapped
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-01-27 10:55:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21390985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoneRobotnik/pseuds/ZoneRobotnik
Summary: Ursa and Mabon Pines go to stay with their great-aunt for the summer in the sleepy town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. What looked to be a boring summer quickly improves as the twins find out this town is not what it seems.
Relationships: Gideon Gleeful/Mabel Pines, and some others
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Gravity Falls (c) Alex Hirsch and Disney XD

~Ah, summer break. A time for leisure, family, and taking it easy.

Unless you're me.~

A golf cart sped down the road from the forest, driven by a girl wearing a blue vest, red shirt, gray shorts, and black shoes with white socks with short brown hair and brown eyes. 

Beside her was a young boy that looked very much like her, with a purple bandanna tied around his head, a purple sweater with a cat and the words "Meow Wow" on the front, and black pants and boots.

"Hurry, they're gonna catch up at this rate!" The boy cried out anxiously, then moved to cover his mouth after a hard jolt rocked the cart.

~My name is Ursa. The boy about to puke is my brother Mabon. You're probably wondering why we're fleeing for our lives from some unimaginable horror in the woods.~

"Look out!" Mabon cried as a tree flew over their heads. Ursa narrowly avoided hitting it, but they ended up driving straight off a cliff as a result, both of them screaming in fear.

~Rest assured, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this.

Let's rewind a little.~

\--

~It all started when our parents decided out of the blue to ship us off to Gravity Falls, Oregon to live with our great-aunt Stanley Pines in her creepy cabin in the woods.~

Ursa and Mabon stepped off the Speedy Beaver and looked around for their ride. "Where is she?" Ursa checked her watch.

"She'll show up. Hey, maybe we can walk there!" Mabon grabbed his bag and started off.

"Mabon, wait!" Ursa grabbed her bag and adjusted her gray-green hat that had a star on it. "Don't go without me!"

Just at that moment, a red El Diablo convertible roared into the area and parked. The door opened and an elderly woman dressed in a black and red suit stepped out, a big smile on her face.

"Hey, it's my two favorite twins! Well, don't just stand there! Let's get your stuff loaded up and skedaddle back to the Mystery Shack!"

~And so we got in her car and drove off to her creepy cabin in the woods. Her creepy cabin in the woods that just so happens to be a gift-shop full of fake oddities staffed by her and two other people.~

"I've set up the attic for you kids. You don't mind sharing a room, do ya?" Stanley asked as she unloaded their bags with the help of a handsome redhead wearing green plaid. "Only other room I got."

"No problem at all!" Mabon grinned, his braces glinting in the sunlight.

"Well, if it's all you have." Ursa shrugged.

~Supposedly she wasn't living alone when she moved into the place, but her housemates, her twin sister and their college roommate, left one day thirty years ago and never came back. The search party was called off before I was born.

I have to wonder where the other two slept. Maybe their rooms just aren't fit for human living anymore.

Whatever, rooming with my brother will be great! We can stay up talking without having to sneak into each others' rooms!~

"Here we are! Home sweet home!" Stanley declared as they were led into a dusty attic bedroom.

"Ohh! I'm calling this one!" Mabon ran over to the bed on the right side of the room. "This attic is amazing!" He turned to her. "Check out all my splinters!"

Ursa stared blankly as a goat hopped onto her bed and bleated at her. "Aaand there's a goat on my bed." She shooed it away and set to work unpacking.

"Hey, friend!" Mabon greeted, then chuckled as the goat started to chew on his sweater. "Oh, of  _ course _ you can chew on my sweater!"

\--

~My brother tended to look on the bright side of things.~

"Yaaay! Grass!" Mabon cheered as he rolled down the hill leading down to town from their summer home. Ursa, meanwhile, was fending off a woodpecker with a book.

~But, I was having a hard time getting used to our surroundings.~

Ursa walked through the living room and opened the door to the hallway. Stanley burst out with a horrifying ogre mask on her face yelling "BOO!"

"Gyah!" Ursa fell back and Stanley took off the mask, laughing.

~And then there's our great-aunt Stanley. She prefers to be called Stan or Ley but, no matter what, it sounds like a guy's name.~

Stanley choked and coughed in the middle of her laughing. " _ Worth it _ ." She insisted.

~As I said before, after her sister's sudden and mysterious disappearance, Stanley turned their shared home into a tourist trap she calls the "Mystery Shack". If you ask me, the  _ real _ mystery is why anybody came.~

Ursa looked up from sweeping to watch her aunt work.

"Ladies and gentlemen, behold! The Sascrotch!" Stanley announced, standing next to a generic status of Bigfoot wearing briefs. The tourists "ohh'd" and "ahh'd" and took pictures.

Ursa rolled her eyes and went back to sweeping.

~And, naturally, she was "giving us something for our resume" by having us work for her. For free.~

Mabon looked at a jar of eyeballs and reached to open it and Stanley swatted his hand with her cane. "No touching the merchandise!"

"Aww!" Mabon pouted.

~It looked like it was going to be one long,  _ boring _ summer. Until one day…~

\--

Mabon poked his head up behind bobbleheads of their great-aunt. "She's looking at it. She's looking at it!" He whispered.

A girl was just across the way, reading a note he'd slipped in her purse. "'Do you like me? Yes. Definitely. Absolutely'?" She looked around with concern.

"I rigged it." Mabon grinned.

Ursa sighed as she sprayed the jar of eyeballs with water and wiped it down. "Mabon, I know you're getting to the age where girls are cute and no longer have cooties, but don't you think you're being a  _ little _ creepy and desperate?"

"Whaaat?" Mabon looked at her and blew a raspberry. "Come oooon, Ursa! This is our first summer away from home! This could be my big chance to have an Epic Summer Romance!"

"I literally heard those capitals." Ursa turned to him. "Fine, but do you have to flirt with every girl you meet? I mean, there was that girl you shoved into the card display, the girl with the turtles, and let's not forget the Mattress Princess."

"Mock all you want, sister, but I've got a  _ really good feeling _ about this summer." Mabon smiled confidently. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the girl of my dreams walked through  _ that _ door right now!" He gestured dramatically to one of the doors in the shop.

Right on cue, Stanley stepped out, carrying signs under her arms, and choked on a belch. "Ah, ow. Not good. Ow."

"Aww, why!?" Mabon despaired.

"Ha ha ha!" Ursa laughed.

"Alright, alright. Look alive, people." Stanley moved the signs to the front of her. "I need someone to hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest."

"Not it!" Ursa quickly said.

"Not it!" Mabon insisted.

"Uh, also not it." Said their handyman, a young Hispanic woman named Jesusa Ramirez, "Soos" for short.

"No one asked you, Soos." Stanley told her.

"I know, and I'm comfortable with that." Soos said before taking a bite of a chocolate bar and going back to work.

"Wendell, I need you to put up this sign." Stanley turned to their cashier, who was reading a magazine.

"I would, but I--uh--can't--uh--reach it. Uh." Wendell Corduroy waved an arm in the general direction of the signs.

"I'd fire  _ all _ of you, if I could." Stanley sighed. "Alright, I'll make it...eeney, meenie, minie...you." She stopped on Ursa.

"What?! But, Grauntie Stan, whenever I'm in those woods, I feel like someone's watching me!" She clutched at her arms nervously.

"Ugh,  _ this _ again." Stanley rolled her eyes.

"I'm telling you, something  _ weird _ is going on in this town. Just this morning, my mosquito bites spelled out 'beware'!" She pulled up her sleeve to show her.

Stanley looked at it. "That says 'bewarb'. You need to use bug repellant, kid." She added as Ursa rubbed at her bites. "Look, kid, the whole 'monsters in the forest' thing is just a local legend, drummed up by people like me to sell merch to gullible people like  _ that _ ." She nodded towards a woman playing with the bobbleheads and giggling.

"So, quit being paranoid!" Stanley shoved the signs into Ursa's arms.

\--

"Agh, Grauntie Stan…" Ursa grumbled as she hammered up the signs. "No one  _ ever _ listens to anything I say."

She moved on to the next tree and started to hammer the sign on, but a metallic sound made her stop short. "What the…?"

She set the sign and hammer down and banged on it with her fist a couple times before she found a slit and eased the door open. "Whoa…"

Inside was some kind of switch, with a few different levers. She tried each one, flipping back and forth, not really expecting anything to happen. But, then something  _ did _ happen. The ground opened up behind her, revealing a book lying in the ground.

"Oh, gross. At least put it in a box, come on." She lifted it out, brushed off the bugs and dust, and looked it over. It was a reddish-brown color, with a gold six-fingered hand on the front that sported the number 3. There was a small magnifying glass, or maybe a monocle, dangling from it.

"Okay…" She opened it up. "'It's hard to believe it's been six years since I first began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls'." She read, then flipped through it, skimming the pages. "What  _ is _ all this? A journal?" She stopped at a page that said "TRUST NO ONE". "'Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before SHE finds it. Remember: In Gravity Falls, there is no one you can trust'."

She sat back, frowning. "'No one you can trust'..."

"HALLO!" 

"GYAH!" Ursa slammed the book shut in alarm.

"What'cha reading, some nerd thing?" Mabon grinned at her.

"Uhh, uhh, it's nothing!" Ursa hid the book behind her.

"'Uhh, uhh, it's nothing'!" Mabon mimicked her and laughed. "What? Are you  _ actually not _ gonna show me?"

Ursa glanced at the Journal and saw the goat, Gompers, chewing on the edge of the book. "Uh...let's go somewhere private." She suggested.


	2. Norma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ursa's found a mysterious book, but Mabon's found a mysterious girlfriend!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gravity Falls (c) Alex Hirsch and Disney XD

It's amazing!" Ursa said as she showed Mabon the book, the two sitting side by side in the living room armchair. "Grauntie Stan said I was being paranoid but, according to this book, Gravity Falls has a secret dark side!"

"Whoa! Shut. _Up_!" Mabon dramatically declared, shoving her lightly.

"And, get this! After a certain point, the pages just...stop. Like the guy who was writing it _ mysteriously disappeared_." Ursa said in a spooky voice, then looked up when the doorbell rang. "Who's that?"

"Well, time to spill the beans!" Mabon said, knocking over a can of beans conveniently on the table. "Boop. Beans. THIS GUY'S GOT A DATE!" He smiled proudly.

"Let me get this straight: In the half-hour I was gone, you already found a girlfriend?" Ursa asked incredulously.

Sure, he'd been trying for _ days_, but Ursa didn't think anyone would actually say ** _yes_**! 

"What can I say? I guess I'm just IRRESISTIBLE!" He waved his sleeves at her, then hopped off the chair when the bell rang again. "Oh! COMING!"

Ursa repositioned herself and continued to read.

Stanley came into the room in her camisole and boxer shorts. "What'cha reading there, slick?"

"Oh!" Ursa quickly hid the book under a pillow and grabbed a nearby magazine. "I was just catching up on, uh…" She squinted at it. "'Gold Chains for Aged Babes' magazine?"

"That's a good issue." Stanley sipped at her can of Pitt Cola.

"Heeeey, family!" Mabon came into.the room with a teenage girl. "Say hello to my NEW GIRLFRIEND!"

"'Sup?" She asked.

"Hey…" Ursa said awkwardly.

"How's it hanging?" Stanley asked.

"We met at the cemetery." Mabon linked his arm with hers. "She's _ really deep _."

"Why were you at the cemetery?" Ursa asked.

"I was just wandering." Mabon shrugged.

"Riiight. So, what's your name?" Ursa asked.

"N-Nnooooorrrmmmmal?" Mabon's new girlfriend said shakily.

"Norma. Her name's Norma." Mabon confirmed.

"Are you _ bleeding_, Norma?" Ursa pointed to a suspicious red liquid dripping down her face.

"It's jam." Norma replied.

Mabon gasped. "I LOVE jam! Look. At. This!" He gestured between them excitedly.

"So, you wanna go...hold hands, or something?" Norma asked.

"Oh. Oh my gosh." Mabon giggled. "Don't wait up!" He told Ursa and Stanley before they left together.

Ursa and Stanley looked at each other before Stanley sipped her drink and walked out of the living room.

\--

~There was something about Norma that wasn't right. I decided to consult the Journal.~

"'Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for..._ teenagers _'?!" Ursa gasped sharply. "'Beware Gravity Falls' nefarious...ZOMBIE'!"

She dropped the book, staring in horror at the page depicting a zombie that looked horrifyingly like Norma, then looked out the window at Mabon and Norma hanging out by a bench.

\--

Mabon smiled up at Norma, who was approaching him. "I _ like _ you."

He didn't notice Ursa having a panic attack in the attic, and then laughed a bit as Norma put a daisy chain necklace on him. "Aww, how sweet!"

\--

Ursa slumped against the window. "Is my brother really dating a zombie, or am I going nuts?"

"It's a dilemma, to be sure."

Ursa looked over to see Soos changing a lightbulb. "Soos?"

"I couldn't help but hear you talking aloud to yourself in this empty room." She said, focusing on her work.

"Soos, you've seen Mabon's girlfriend. She's gotta be a zombie, right?" Ursa turned to her.

"Hmm. How many _ brains _ didja see the gal eat?" Soos asked.

"Zero." Ursa sighed dejectedly.

"Look, Ur, I believe you." Soos looked at her. "I'm always noticing weird stuff in this town. Like, the mailgirl? _ Pretty _ sure that gal's a werewolf."

Ursa looked thoughtful as Soos went on. "But, you gotta have _ evidence._ Otherwise, people are gonna believe you're a major league cuckoo clock."

"As always, Soos, you're right." Ursa nodded.

"My wisdom is both a blessing and a curse." Soos said, finishing the lightbulb.

"Soos! The portable toilets are clogged again!" Stanley called.

"I am needed elsewhere." Soos picked up her toolbox and left.

\--

~My brother could be in trouble. It was time to get some evidence.~

Ursa watched, camcorder in hand, as Mabon played frisbee with his girlfriend. Norma failed to catch it and fell over like a wooden doll.

'That's suspicious…' Ursa thought with a frown.

Then she followed them to Greasy's Diner, where she witnessed Norma smash in a window instead of just turning the knob to open the door. To top it off, Norma stumbled around and crashed to the floor following him in.

"Someone get the drunk girl out of here." A blond boy around Ursa's age remarked, his friends laughing at his comment.

Mabon helped her up and sat her in a booth. Ursa watched them from behind her menu.

After that, they went to the graveyard, where they skipped around the graves until Norma fell into an open one and sluggishly climbed back out, the two laughing at the stumble.

~I'd seen enough.~

\--

Ursa steeled herself before knocking on the door once and then walking in. "Mabon, we've gotta talk about Norma."

"Isn't she the best?" Mabon turned to her and pointed to a mark on his cheek. "Look at this giant smooch mark she gave me!"

"Gyah!" Ursa cried in alarm.

"Haha, gullible. This is just from an accident with a leafblower." Mabon assured her. "I tried to use it for kissing practice, but it sucked up the picture and then my face got stuck and I ran around like that trying to turn it off!" He grinned. "That was fun."

"No, Mabon, listen." Ursa grabbed the Journal. "I'm trying to tell you that Norma is not what she seems!"

Mabon gasped. "You think she might be a vampire? That would be so _ awesome _!"

"Guess again, brother." She opened the book. "Sha-BAM!"

"Agh!" Mabon recoiled from the page about gnomes.

"Oh, wait, sorry. Here, Sha-BAM!" She opened it to the zombie page this time.

"A zombie?" Mabon raised an eyebrow. "That is _ not _ funny, Ursa."

"I'm not joking! It all adds up: the bleeding, the limp - SHE NEVER BLINKS! Have you noticed that?!" Ursa asked anxiously.

"Maybe _ she's _ blinking when _ you're _ blinking." Mabon suggested.

"Mabon, remember what the book said about Gravity Falls? '_Trust no one'! _" Ursa stressed.

"Well, what about _ me,_ why can't you trust _ me_?" Mabon asked, putting on star earrings. "Beep bop!"

"Mabon," Ursa grabbed his arms and shook him. "She's going to eat your brain!"

Mabon gently moved her off of him. "Ursa, listen to me." His tone turned firm. "Norma and I are going on a date at five o'clock and she's going to be _ adorable _ and I'm gonna be _ dreamy _ , and I ** _won't_ ** have you ruining things with one of your _ crazy conspiracies_!" He pushed her out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

Ursa groaned and walked over to sit at the attic window. "What am I gonna do…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Norma really a zombie, or is Ursa just being paranoid like Mabon says?


	3. Gnome-a

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ignoring Ursa's warnings, Mabon meets up with Norma. But, things are not as they seem!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gravity Falls (c) Alex Hirsch and Disney XD

At five o'clock, the doorbell rang. Ursa watched helplessly as Mabon ran down, pulling on a purple sweater with a glittery cat head and the words "Meow Wow" on the front.

"Hey, Norma, how do I look?" Mabon asked, showing it off.

"Shiny..." Norma critiqued.

"You  _ always _ know what to say!" Mabon grinned and walked out with her, arm in arm.

Ursa sighed, looking at her camcorder. "Soos was right. I don't have any  _ real _ evidence." She said as she watched Mabon try to play hopscotch with Norma. Predictably, she fell flat on her face at one hop. "I guess I  _ can _ be a little paranoid--wait, WHAT?!"

She went back to the clip of Norma wrapping her arm around Mabon. Her hand fell off and she put it back on before Mabon noticed.

"Oh no! I was right!" She bolted to her feet. "Oh gosh, oh gosh!" She ran to the window. "Grauntie Stan! Grauntie Stan!"

Stanley was very distracted with her tour, so it was up to Ursa. She ran over to Wendell, who was in the golf cart. "Wendell! I need to borrow the golf cart so I can save my brother from a zombie!"

Wendell handed over the keys with a grin. "Try not to hit any pedestrians!"

Ursa got in and started the cart, starting to drive off, but stopped short when Soos stepped in the way.

"Hey, it's me, Soos." She handed over a shovel. "This is for the zombies."

"Thanks." Ursa took the shovel and put it in the cart.

"And  _ this _ is in case you see a pinata." She handed Ursa a baseball bat.

"Uhh...thanks?" Ursa put that in the cart as well and drove off.

"Better safe than sorry!" Soos called after her.

Ursa glared at the woods ahead of her. "Hang on, Mabon. I'm coming!"

\--

"Uh, Mabon, now that we've gotten to know each other, there's…" Norma exhaled nervously, "there's something I should tell you."

"Oh, Norma. You can tell me  _ anything _ ." Mabon assured her. 'Please, be a vampire.  _ Please _ , be a vampire.' He thought.

"Alright, just...just be cool, alright? Don't freak out." She started to unzip her long coat.

"Whoa, baby, isn't this a bit fast?" Mabon blushed, then stared blankly when the coat fell to the ground to reveal...five tiny girls with...gnome hats. "Uh…"

"Is this weird? Is this too weird?" The girl on top asked. "Do you need to sit down?"

Mabon continued to stare in shock. The girl laughed nervously. "R-R-Right, okay. I'll explain, then. So! First off, we're gnomes, get that one out of the way."

"Uh…" Mabon said numbly.

"I'm Jill, and here we have Carrie, Sarah, Julia and...I always forget your name." She looked at one of the other girls.

"Schmebulock." She said in a dazed way.

"Schmebulock!" Jill snapped her fingers. "That's it!" She looked back at Mabon. "Anyways, long story short, us gnomes have been looking for a new King! Right, girls?"

"King! King! King!" The others chorused.

"Heh. So, what do you say?" Jill tapped Sarah with her foot and the whole tower knelt down into a proposing stance. "Will you join us in holy matrignomey--Matri--Matri-MO-ny. Bleh, can't talk today."

"Look, guys, you're really sweet." Mabon said, finally breaking out of his stupor. "But, I'm a boy, and you're gnomes, and it's like "what?". Yikes…" He awkwardly tugged at his sweater sleeve.

"We understand. We'll never forget you, Mabon." Jill said solemnly. Mabon smiled fondly. "Because we're gonna kidnap you."

"Wait,  _ what _ ?!" Mabon stepped back in alarm.

"GET HIM, GIRLS!" Jill yelled.

Mabon screamed and turned to run, but was piled on by the gnomes.

\--

"Don't worry, Mabon! I'll save you from the zombie!" Ursa declared as she drove.

"Help!" Mabon cried in the distance.

"Hold on!" Ursa called back, driving faster.

\--

"The more you struggle, the more awkward this is gonna be for everybody!" Jill said as she watched the gnomes tie Mabon down with rope. "Just, haha, get his arm there, Sarah!" 

"Let GO of me!" Mabon cried, continuing to struggle. He punched Sarah and she bounced away, hit a tree and then proceeded to puke out a flowing rainbow.

"What the  _ heck _ is going ON here?!" Ursa asked as she got out of the golf cart with the shovel in hand.

"Ursa! Norma turned out to be a bunch of gnomes! And they're total  _ jerks _ !" Mabon cried, then winced as one of them pulled his hair. "Ow! Ow! Hair, ow!"

"Gnomes? Wait, so the book turned it to the right page before to tell me I was wrong?" Ursa opened the Journal. "Gnomes: little people of the Gravity Falls forest. Weaknesses: unknown." She looked up from the book to find Mabon fully tied down.

"Aw, come on!" Mabon groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, then." Ursa put the book back in her vest and stormed over with the shovel. "Alright, let go of my brother! NOW!"

Jill turned around. "Oh! Right, you. Hey, uh, there's been a misunderstanding. Your brother's not in danger! He's just going to marry all one-thousand of us and be our new king for all eternity! Isn't that right, sweetie?"

"I NEVER AGREED TO--" Mabon was quickly silenced by a gnome covering his mouth.

Ursa raised the shovel. "Give him back, or ELSE."

Jill laughed mockingly. "You think you can stop us, girl? You have no idea of what we're capable of! The gnomes are a powerful race! Do not trifle with--" she was interrupted by Ursa scooping her up with the shovel and tossing her aside. "Ah!"

"Alright, let's get you out of here." Ursa cut Mabon loose, pushing gnomes away with the shovel the whole time.

"Thanks." Mabon got up and kicked a few gnomes away before they ran to the golf cart and got in.

"She's getting away with our King! No, no, no!" Jill screeched.

"Seatbelt." Ursa said as they both buckled up. Then she drove the cart away from the gnomes.

"You've messed with the wrong creatures, girl!" Jill called after them. "GNOMES OF THE FOREST, ASSEMBLE!"

"Hurry, before they come after us!" Mabon cried in alarm.

"I don't think we have anything to worry about." Ursa chuckled. "Did you  _ see _ their little legs? Those suckers are tiny!"

A loud stomping sound came from behind them and Ursa hit the brakes before they looked behind them. The gnomes had all formed into one, giant super-gnome.

"Those crazy girls are the most synchronized cheerleaders I have  _ ever _ seen." Mabon said in awe.

"Alright, teamwork, ladies. Like we practiced!" Jill said from the very top. The gnomes made the super-gnome growl.

"Move, MOVE!" Mabon yelled as Ursa slammed on the gas and drove on, narrowly avoiding a giant arm slamming down on them.

"Come back with our King!" Jill yelled as they rebuilt the arm and gave chase.

"They're getting closer!" Mabon said anxiously.

"I'm going as fast as this thing can!" Ursa said, clenching her teeth.

Several gnomes flew at the cart and started trying to tear it apart. One of them started to climb in on Mabon's side. "Haha!"

"Yagh!" Mabon punched her out.

Schmebulock climbed in on Ursa's side and she grabbed her and slammed her into the steering wheel before tossing her aside.

"Schmebulock…" She said as she disappeared into the woods.

One of the gnomes got in and latched onto Ursa, clawing at her face. "I'll save you, Ursa!" Mabon cried, punching at the gnome until it let go and fell away, taking Ursa's hat with her.

"Thanks, Mabon." Ursa said shakily, wincing in pain.

"Don't mention it." Mabon said distractedly, looking over at the super-gnome. 

They drove on, pursued by the gnomes.

"Hurry, they're gonna catch up at this rate!" Mabon cried out anxiously, then moved to cover his mouth after a hard jolt rocked the cart.

Ursa focused on the road, dodging gnomes that were thrown at them.

"Look out!" Mabon cried as a tree flew over their heads. Ursa narrowly avoided hitting it, but they ended up driving straight off a cliff as a result, both of them screaming in fear.

"AHHHHH!" They screamed as they drove towards the Mystery Shack. Ursa swerved to avoid hitting it and they fell on their side.

"Urgh…" Mabon groaned as they unbuckled and climbed out from inside it. The ground shook as they heard a stomping sound and they looked up to see the super-gnome had caught up. "Oh boy…"

They quickly got up. "Stay back!" Ursa yelled, throwing the shovel at them. It was batted away like nothing. "Oh, crap..." She clung to her brother.

"Where's Grauntie Stan?" Mabon looked around, but didn't see any sign of their caretaker.

\--

"Behold, the world's most distracting object!" Stanley uncovered a small object that resembled a lollipop and had a pull string. She pulled the string and it started to spin. "Just TRY to look away! You can't!"

"Ohh…" The tourists stared in awe at it.

"I, uh...I can't even remember what I was talking about." Stanley said, staring at it and completely ignoring the trouble outside the window they were next to.

\--

"It's the end of the line, kids!" Jill declared. "Mabon, marry us before we do something  _ crazy _ !"

Mabon let go of Ursa and stepped forward. "I gotta do it."

"What? Mabon, don't do this! Are you  _ crazy _ ?" Ursa asked anxiously.

"Ursa, just this once,  _ trust me. _ " Mabon insisted.

"...Okay." Ursa nodded.

Mabon stepped forward. "Alright, Jill. I'll marry you."

"Hot dog! Help me down there, Julia." She started to climb down. "Thanks, Amy! Alright, left foot, there we go, watch those fingers, Mary." 

She got down and approached Mabon, holding out a crown made of twigs and gems. "Eh? Eh?"

Mabon bowed his head and she put it on his head. "Bada-bing, bada-bam! Now, let's get you back into the forest, sweetie!" She turned to go.

"You may now kiss the bride." Mabon declared.

Jill stopped short and blushed. "Oh, well, if you insist. So forward, wow." She turned to him, puckering her lips and closing her eyes.

Mabon leaned forward to kiss her and then suddenly grabbed the leaf blower, turning it on.

"Wha--wait, no! What's going on?!" Jill cried as she was sucked halfway into the opening.

"_That's_ for lying to me!" Mabon yelled over the roar of the machine, and then he increased the sucking power. "THAT'S for breaking my heart!"

"Ow! My face!" Jill cried as she was sucked in more.

"And THIS is for messing with my sister!" He aimed the blower at the super-gnome and looked at Ursa. "Wanna do the honors?"

"On three!" Ursa said with a grin.

"One, two, three!" They said in unison before turning the reverse function on and firing Jill at the other gnomes.

They all fell apart and fell to the ground, disoriented, as Jill flew off into the distance. "I'LL GET YOU BACK FOR THIIIIIIIS!"

"Who's giving orders? I need orders!" One of the gnomes cried.

"My arms are tired…" Another one groaned.

Mabon started blowing the leaf blower at the gnomes to knock them away. "Anyone ELSE want some?" Ursa asked confidently, her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk on her face.

The gnomes scattered, one of them getting caught in a six-pack holder that the goat promptly carried off, the gnome screaming in terror as she was carried away.

"Hey, Ursa?" Mabon turned to her. "I, uhm...I'm sorry for ignoring your advice. You really were just looking out for me."

"Hey, don't be like that. You saved our butts back there." Ursa assured him.

"I guess I'm just bummed that my first girlfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes." Mabon sighed sadly.

"Hey, look on the bright side. Maybe the next one  _ will _ be a vampire." Ursa grinned.

"Aw, you're just saying that." Mabon smiled.

"Awkward sibling hug?" Ursa opened her arms.

"Awkward sibling hug." Mabon hugged her.

They stood like that for a few seconds before saying "Pat, pat." in unison as they patted each others' backs and then broke the hug to go inside.

Stanley looked up from counting money. "Yeesh, did you two get hit by a bus or something? Ahah!" She banged on the counter.

Ursa and Mabon decided not to comment on their summer caretaker's apparent disinterest in their wellbeing and started to walk on.

"Uhm, hey." Stanley cleared her throat. "Wouldn't you know it? I've accidentally overstocked some inventory, so, uh, why don't you two each take something from the shop. On the house, y'know?"

"Really?" Mabon asked excitedly.

"What's the catch?" Ursa asked, crossing her arms over her head.

"The catch is to do it before I change my mind." Stanley said, putting the money away. "Now, take something."

Ursa shrugged and walked over to look at the hats, figuring she could replace the one she lost. A blue and white hat with a pine tree symbol on it stood out to her, so she took it down and tried it on, looking in a mirror. "Hmm. Yep, that oughta do the trick!"

"And  _ I _ will have a…" Mabon dug into some boxes before coming up with a--"GRAPPLING HOOK! Yes."

Ursa and Stanley stared at her. "That's...wouldn't you rather have a jacket or a ball or something?" Stanley suggested.

Mabon fired it at the ceiling and dangled in the air by it. "Grappling hook!"

"Fair enough!" Stanley decided not to argue it.

\--

While Mabon tried to decide which stuffed animal would wear his new crown, Ursa sat on her bed writing in the Journal.

[This journal told me that there was no one in Gravity Falls I could trust.] She looked at Mabon with a fond smile. [But, when you battle a hundred gnomes side-by-side with someone, you realize they've probably always got your back.]

Mabon finished crowning his biggest stuffed animal, a bear, and then sat back, fiddling with the grappling hook again.

"Hey, Mabon, can you get the light?" Ursa asked, putting the Journal under her pillow.

"On it!" Mabon fired the grappling hook at the lamp and it went flying out the window.

"Well, now we have to repair the window  _ and _ get a new lamp." Ursa remarked.

"Haha, grappling hook." Mabon replied sheepishly.

\--

~Our aunt told us there was nothing strange about this town. But, who  _ knows _ what other secrets are waiting to be unlocked.~

Stanley walked through the giftshop carrying a lantern and stopped at the vending machine. She typed on a few buttons and the machine moved like a door, which she went through and cautiously closed behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summer loving, happened so fast  
Summer loving--let's put that in the past.  
It's time for some FAMILY FUN!


	4. Family Fun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stanley brings the twins to the Gravity Falls lake to have some fun!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gravity Falls (c) Alex Hirsch and Disney XD

"Are you ready for the ultimate challenge?" Mabon asked, holding a Sir Syrup syrup bottle.

"I'm always ready!" Ursa declared, holding a Mountie Man syrup bottle.

"Then, you know what _ this _ means!" Mabon said, and then they both held up their bottles, tipped upside down with the caps open. 

"SYRUP RACE!" They said in unison. "Ahh!"

The syrup started to drip out of both bottles toward their open mouths.

"Go, Sir Syrup!" Mabon cheered.

"Go, Mountie Man!" Ursa encouraged.

"Go, go, go, go!" They cheered in unison, until Mabon cheated and made his bottle flow faster. He choked on the syrup and then cheered "I win!" while Ursa picked up a newspaper with a pretty blonde girl on the front page with a crystal ball and opened it, skimming the contents.

"No way!" Ursa said, laughing a bit.

"Whazzat? Whozzat?" He moved closer. "This about the cover girl?"

"What?" Ursa looked back at it. "'Child psychic'. Uh, no. Look, _ this _ page right here." She went back to what she was looking at.

Mabon looked at it and gasped. "Human-sized hamster balls? I'M human-sized!"

"No, not that either." Ursa turned his face to the page she was looking at, an ad for a monster photo contest. "We see weirder stuff than this ad has every single day! We didn't get any photos of those gnomes, did we?" 

Mabon shook his head. "Nope, just memories. Oh, and the crown and this strand of hair." He held it up.

"Why did you save that?" Ursa asked. Mabon shrugged.

"Goooood morning, knuckleheads!" Stanley came into the kitchen. "You two know what day it is?"

"Uhm, happy anniversary?" Ursa guessed.

"_Mazel tov!_" Mabon chimed in.

Stanley took the newspaper and swatted Ursa's head with it. "It's Family Fun Day, genius!" She set the newspaper down, gave the front page a look of distaste, and went to the fridge. "We're cutting off work today to have one of those--" she took out the milk and sniffed it before going to get a glass. "Bonding-type deals."

"Grauntie Stan, is this going to be anything like our _ last _ 'family bonding activity'?"

The event in question was a night at a strange and nondescript location where Stanley was teaching them to make counterfeit money. She'd been in the middle of critiquing Mabon's rather masculine rendition of Benjamina Franklin when the cops had arrived.

Mabon shivered at the memory. "The county jail was so cold…"

"All right, maybe I haven't been the _ best _ summer caretaker." Stanley admitted. "But, I swear, today we're gonna have some _real_ family fun! Now, who wants to put on some blindfolds and get into my car?!"

"Yay!" The kids cheered.

"Wait, what?" Ursa said as what was just said sank in.

\--

The El Diablo drove down the road and Stanley barely avoided letting out a curse as she swerved around an awkwardly parked trailer. "Take another test, Bambi!"

"Well, bless yer li'l heart! Speedin' again, are we, Stanley?" A brown-haired woman asked as they sped past, opening the trailer's door.

"Blindfolds never lead to anything good." Ursa said nervously.

"Wow! I feel like all my other senses are heightened! I can see with my fingers!" Mabon started to paw at Ursa and she swatted his hands away.

"Watch the hands." She frowned.

"Can't watch anything right now!" He laughed.

They jolted and nearly hit the door. "Grauntie Stan, are _ you _ wearing a blindfold?" Ursa asked.

"Haha, nah. But, with these cataracts I might as well be! What is that, a woodpecker?" She squinted and slammed through a wooden guardrail, prompting the twins to scream.

\--

Somehow, they survived the drive and got out at the lake. Ursa took off her blindfold while Mabon lost his lunch nearby.

"Where…?" She frowned.

"Ta-da! It's fishing season!" Stanley gestured to the lake, which already had some people actively fishing with their families on the lake.

"Fishing. I don't know how to fish." Ursa said as Mabon came over to join them, wiping at his mouth.

"Well, no worries! I can teach you!" Stanley assured her, putting handmade hats with their names sewn on on their heads.

"Cool, two hats!" Mabon said, adjusting his on top of his bandanna.

"Miss Pines!" Wendell waved to them from his family's boat as they passed by.

"See? Everyone's here." Stanley assured them.

"That's a lot of sisters." Mabon remarked.

"Grauntie Stan, why do you want to _ bond _ with us all of a sudden?" Ursa asked suspiciously.

"Come on, this is gonna be great!" Stanley insisted. "I've never had fishing buddies before, the gals at the lodge don't 'like' or 'trust' me." She did finger-quotes with a roll of her eyes.

"I think she _actually_ wants to fish with us." Mabon whispered thoughtfully to Ursa.

Ursa nodded and sighed. "Okay...how long are we doing this?"

"Oh, about ten hours." Stanley said casually.

"Ten hours?!" Ursa blurted out.

"I brought the joke book!" She held up a book titled 1001 Yuk 'Em Ups.

"No. No!" Ursa visibly recoiled.

"There's gotta be a way out of this." Mabon said nervously.

"I SEEN IT! I SEEN IT AGAIN!"

They looked over as a wild-looking elderly woman came bursting into the area. She pushed through people as she ran on the docks barefoot, wearing tattered brown overalls and nothing else. She had bandages on her feet, one hand was almost entirely wrapped up, and she had a bandaid on her hair.

"The Gravity Falls Gobblewonker!" She declared, flailing her arms. "Come quick before it scrabdoodles away!" She started to do a frantic dance, slapping her knees and thighs.

"Ugh, this gal." Stanley rolled her eyes.

"Aw, she's doing a happy jig!" Mabon said cheerfully.

"NO!" She stopped dancing and grabbed Mabon's shirt front. "IT'S A JIG OF GREAT DANGEEEER!"

"Hey!" The owner of the fishing shop came out and started to fire a spray bottle at her, prompting her to let go of Mabon and back away. "Now, what did I say about scaring my customers? This is your last warning, mom!"

"But, I got _ proof _ this time, by gummity!" The woman insisted.

\--

"BEHOLD!" She gestured to a damaged rowboat. "It's the Gobble-dy-wonker what done it! It had a long neck like a gee-raff! And wrinkly skin, like...like this lady right here!" She pointed to Stanley.

"Speak for yourself." Stanley said, offended.

"It chawed my boat up to smitheroons, and shim-shammed over to Scuttlebutt Island! YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!" The woman clutched at her daughter's arms and shook her.

"Attention, all units." A dark-skinned chubby policewoman said. "We've got ourselves a _ crazy old hag_."

The crowd, aside from the Pines, laughed and then dispersed, leaving her looking upset. Her daughter shook her head in shame before walking away, leaving the Pines family with her.

"Aww, donkey spittle! Aw, banjo polish!" The woman walked off.

"Well, _ that _ happened." Stan walked off to her boat. "Now, let's untie this boat and get out on that lake!"

"Mabon, did you hear what that woman said?" Ursa asked.

"'Aw, donkey spittle'!" Mabon said, imitating the way she said it.

"No, the other thing." Ursa corrected. "About the monster. If we can snag a photo of it, we can split the prize fifty-fifty!"

Mabon gasped. "That's _ two _ fifties!"

"Imagine what you could do with five. Hundred. Dollars." Ursa said eagerly.

Mabon gasped and pictured himself running wild in a giant hamster ball, impressing his favorite fictional girls. 

"Mabon? Mabon?" Ursa snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Ursa, I am _ one million _percent on board with this!" He said enthusiastically.

"Grauntie Stan!" Ursa walked over to her. "Change in plans: we're gonna take _ that _ boat to Scuttlebutt Island and we're gonna find that Gobblewonker!"

"Monster hunt! Monster hunt!" They cheered in unison.

"Monster hunt! Monster hunt!" The crazy woman was back and they stared at her. "Monster...uh...I'll go." She walked off.

Stan clenched her teeth. "You don't want to go out there, trust me. It's probably absolutely nothing."

"But--" Ursa started.

"Hey, did I hear something about a monster hunt?" Soos drove up in a speedboat. 

"Soos!" The kids greeted.

"Wassup, hambone?" She leaned on the railing and gave Mabon a fist-bump. "You know, you could totally use my boat for your hunt. It's got a steering wheel, chairs; normal boat stuff."

"Alright, alright. Let's think this through." Stanley held up her hands. "Ya kids could go _ waste your time _ on some 'epic monster-hunting adventure', or you could learn how to skewer worms with your great-auntie Stan!"

"Hm…" Ursa looked thoughtful. "Or...you could come _ with _ us."

"W-What?" Stanley stammered.

"I mean, think about it. If it's nothing, then at least we spent this time together, and we can fish afterwards. If it IS a real monster, there's a contest for pictures of monsters that has a cash prize. Plus, it could be a great bonding experience!" Ursa reasoned.

"There's room on the boat for four." Soos chimed in helpfully.

Stanley looked at her boat, then picked up her fishing gear. "Okay...let's go find a monster!"

"Yaaay!" Mabon cheered.

"I've still got the joke book." She said slyly.

"Oh no." Ursa groaned.

"Okay, we need bait, sunscreen, cameras, and does this thing have life-jackets?" Stanley asked as they got on.

"Uhm, yes to the life-jackets, no to everything else." Soos said thoughtfully.

"I'll be back. Also, I'm the captain." She got down and headed to the shop. "Wendell, help me haul something to the boat?"

"Why is _ she _ captain?" Mabon pouted.

"Let her have this. I heard she wanted to be an explorer on the high seas when she was younger." Soos said softly.

"What happened?" Ursa asked.

"She won't say." Soos shrugged.

"So, y'know, I figure since you were getting bored and we're...kinda' family-ish, you could come with us. Might be fun."

Ursa looked down and saw Stanley walking back with Wendell. "So, whaddaya say?" 

Wendell shrugged. "Yeah, okay. More interesting than the catch and release my mom and sisters are doing."

"Welcome aboard!" Mabon said as they went on, Wendell carrying the bait.

"Okay, I bought everyone a camera, so let's try not to lose them." Stanley said. "Years ago, I used to go into the woods with my sister and we took pictures of the flora and fauna. Even if we don't find the Gobblewonker, I bet we'll still have loads of stuff for the scrapbook. Mabon, still got your grappling hook?"

"Always!" He pulled it out.

"Good, that'll come in handy for ol' 'gee-raff' neck." Stanley nodded. "You guys ready to go on a monster hunt? Pines on three, ready? One, two, three."

"PINES! PINES! PINES! PINES!" They all cheered in unison, and then Soos went to take the wheel.

Ursa smiled and walked over to look over the railing at the water.

"So, this is fun." Wendell walked over to her. "Sunscreen?" He offered her the bottle.

"Thanks." Ursa took it and squirted some into her hand to start applying it. "It is, actually. I...didn't really expect her to agree to it, but she seems to be having fun."

"She mentioned a sister." Wendell commented.

"Oh, yeah. Forty years ago, she and her twin sister Harley left home together and went to college, then they moved here. One day, though, Harley disappeared and my aunt was left to live alone." Ursa nodded. "I never met her, she disappeared long before I was born."

"Dang. She's never mentioned her before now." Wendell looked at Stanley standing proudly at the front of the boat with Mabon by her side.

"Maybe this trip makes her feel nostalgic." Ursa shrugged.

"Well, let's make it an awesome trip." Wendell grinned.

Ursa smiled and nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for a MONSTER HUNT!


	5. Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mystery Shack staff search for the Gobblewonker!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gravity Falls (c) Alex Hirsch and Disney XD

"Okay, how about this one? 'My ex-wife still misses me...but her aim is getting better'!" Stanley said, reading from the joke book.

"How close are we?" Ursa groaned while Soos laughed.

"Ask the lookout." Wendell nodded to Mabon, who was playing with a pelican.

Ursa walked over to him. "Mabon, you keeping a lookout?"

"Look out!" Mabon playfully swatted at her and she dodged. "Haha, just kidding. Don't worry, I'm on it."

The boat suddenly lurched to a stop and they were joined by the others, the pelican taking flight.

"See, we're here! I'm a lookout _ genius_!" Mabon said, grinning.

"Let's disembark, but be wary." Stanley headed for the ladder down. "Trouble could be around any tree, rock or corner!"

"Let's get down there." Wendell nudged Ursa as he passed her.

"Hamster ball, here we come!" Mabon said as they left the boat.

They went to a sign that said "Scuttlebutt Island" and Soos covered the "scuttle" part. "Hey, look. 'Butt Island'."

"Hah! Love it!" Mabon laughed.

"Whoa, check out this creepy place." Wendell said, looking around.

"Where is the fog coming from?" Ursa wondered. "And why doesn't it extend past this island?"

"It's spooky, dude." Wendell grinned as Ursa took a picture.

"Alright, people, look alive!" Stanley said, pulling out a flashlight and turning it on. "Assuming the old hag wasn't lying, the creature should be here. Keep a wary eye out and let's start looking!"

"Right!" They all said in unison before heading down the path.

\--

The silence of the island was broken by the sound of Soos and Wendell beatboxing while Mabon attempted to rap. "My name is Mabon! Which rhymes with 'bacon'! It also rhymes with 'heaven'! It also rhymes with…'celebration'!"

"Dude, we should be writing this stuff down." Soos declared.

"Guys, shh! I hear something!" Ursa clutched at her camera anxiously as they heard a roaring sound.

"Calm down and let's slowly make our way over. If we charge at it, it'll escape. Did I ever tell you of the time my sister and I went looking for the Jersey Devil? Ah, good times." Stanley said as she led them towards the sound.

"This is the most she's mentioned her sister in our _ entire lifetime_." Mabon whispered to the others.

"Guess she really needed this." Ursa smiled sadly.

They approached the sound and came out to find...beavers building a dam? 

"What the? But, that roaring sound…" Ursa looked around at the roaring sound and they saw a beaver gnawing on a chainsaw while it was on.

"Cool, a beaver with a chainsaw!" Soos said as she took a picture.

"Bet I could turn _ that _ into an exhibit." Stanley chuckled.

"Well, it wasn't the Gobblewonker, but we still found something neat." Wendell said as Ursa walked over to sit on the edge of the island.

"I guess the old woman was crazy after all." Ursa sighed.

"She _ did _ say 'scrabdoodle'." Mabon nodded solemnly.

"Hey, so we didn't find the monster. We still had fun!" Stanley said encouragingly. "Come on, let's get back to the boat and do some fishing."

Ursa nodded, but didn't move. Soos decided to take the chance to take more beaver pictures.

"Oh, yeah! Work it! Come on, show me your best side!" She said as she snapped photo after photo.

Ursa sighed and got up, picking up a small rock and tossing it. "I really wanted it to be real…"

The water started to ripple and she gasped as glowing eyes rose out of the water, attached to a head with a long neck.

"Uh…" Ursa froze in place as it stared down at her.

"GRAPPLING HOOK!"

Ursa gasped as her vest was snagged on and she was pulled back to her brother.

"Ohhh, god. It's here." Stanley breathed. "Well, let's capture it! Mabon, lasso! Wendell, get ready to weaken this sucker!"

Wendell pulled out his axe and Mabon readied his grappling hook. Ursa and Soos took pictures, and then the creature roared at them.

"Oh, shit." Wendell breathed.

"Language, Wendell." Stanley hissed.

The creature charged at them and they moved to action. Mabon fired off the grappling hook lasso and Wendell ran over to secure it, grabbing on like he was ready to ride it.

"Hop on, Mabon!" He called, and Mabon used the grappling hook to pull himself closer and they hung on as the creature chased the other three.

Stanley led the other two back to the boat and they got back on the water just in time for the Gobblewonker to burst through the trees after them.

"YEEHAW, this is one tough bucking bronco!" Mabon laughed.

"Hang on, cowboy! This is gonna be a wild ride!" Wendell said as they went into the water again after the boat.

"I can't believe we actually _ found _ it!" Ursa cried, watching the creature chasing their boat.

"Yeah, and it nearly _killed_ you! Don't freeze up like that, kid!" Stanley told her.

"Sorry." Ursa nodded.

They weaved through the lake, passing other boats that barely scattered in time, and by the time they got to the dock the creature had stopped fighting and was hanging its head.

"Alright, you done?" Wendell asked.

"We're gonna need a tank for _this_ baby!" Mabon patted the creature's neck.

Suddenly, the water started to grow wild and they had to hold on for dear life as the creature thrashed in response. "Whoooa, what's going on?!"

Mabon gasped as he and Wendell were enveloped in a green light and then they were tossed off the creature with the grappling hook to land harmlessly on the ground.

"Mabon!" Ursa rushed off the boat and ran over to him.

The Gobblewonker, now free, splashed them all and swam off into the now-calm waters.

"What...the hell?" Wendell breathed.

"Hey! Our cameras are gone!" Stanley cried.

They heard a car door shutting and Ursa looked over to see a limo driving away.

"...What?" She frowned.

"Kids, you okay?" Stanley walked over to them.

"We're fine." Ursa said, still watching the limo drive off.

"Well, we lost the monster pictures. Wanna get another camera and take new pictures of the beavers?" Stanley suggested.

"Actually…" Ursa looked at her finally. "Let's get a new camera and go fishing."

Stanley grinned. "Alright!" 

Soos helped Wendell up. "Hey, wasn't that kind of like…"

"I didn't know she was back in town." Wendell frowned.

"Who? What?" Mabon looked at them.

"Nothing. Let's go fishing." Wendell smiled.

They went to get another camera and then headed out again.

\--

"Okay, that's it. Easy, don't rush it." Stanley said, smiling at Mabon.

Ursa smiled and took a picture of them, then of Soos and Wendell. Wendell was leaning on the railing, letting the wind blow through his hair and clothes and Ursa felt her heart skip a beat.

Oh. Oh no. Nope, not doing this. She quickly turned her attention back to her brother, who had successfully caught a large fish, which was put into a cooler.

"Great job, Mabon!" Stanley cheered.

"Guys, group photo!" Wendell said, propping up his phone. They all gathered together behind the cooler and he set the timer before joining them.

"Everyone say 'fish'!" Stanley grinned.

"FISH!" They all said as the timer hit zero and the phone took the picture.

"Awesome." Wendell went to look at it. "Oh, this is great. I'll print you guys copies to put on your walls." He said, then typed on his phone. "'Fishing...with...Mystery...Shack...staff. Best. Day. Ever.' And send."

"Come on, let's get this fish home, we can have a company cookout later!" Stanley said, closing the cooler.

"Cookout!" Ursa and Mabon cheered.

\--

"Well, we had to get new cameras, but at least we got some memories from this day." Mabon said as they settled in to bed.

"That was crazy at the end, though." Ursa shook her head. "What WAS that?"

Mabon made a "I dunno" sound. "Gobblewonker powers?"

"Hm." Ursa picked up the Journal. "I feel like...it's something different."

"Whatever it is, I'm _ bushed_. G'night!" Mabon rolled over to sleep.

Ursa looked at the moonlight shining through the recently-repaired window. "What secret did I stumble on, this time?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What was that green light? It's a new mystery!

**Author's Note:**

> What mysteries lie hidden, just waiting to be solved?


End file.
